Communications adviser Ronen Tzur said Wednesday night that he will not enter the primaries of the Democrats party, in an interview on the “Seven” studio show. Tzur said he had discovered “extreme factions” inside the party and argued that people who expected a home similar to Labor or Meretz instead found “a house dealing in dark and black methods.”
The Democrats were formed as a merger of Labor and Meretz. Tzur also questioned whether the party could join the next government, noting that it is competing in primaries with dozens of candidates and, according to polls, is projected to win no more than 10 or 11 seats. That makes it very difficult for him, or for any other candidate, to win a place on the party list.
Tzur further said he was accused of spreading messages against another primary contender, retired Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer. Those messages portrayed Sheffer as “a far-left man who kowtows to those who justify 7.10,” a harsher version of criticism Tzur had previously voiced.
A check of the matter found an unexpected twist, the sender registered for those condemnation messages was actually Sheffer’s own personal spokesman. According to the investigation, the move was intended to make party members recoil from what they would see as a smear campaign by Tzur against Sheffer, even though the campaign was initiated by Sheffer’s own camp.
Sheffer later apologized on X, writing that one of the messages sent during the primary campaign came from his team, but was worded to make it look as if it attacked him. He said the message echoed Tzur’s lines and was therefore attributed to him, added that this was not the political tone he wanted, and took full responsibility, saying he had called Tzur to apologize and also apologized to party members.
